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Around Again, Naturally
Two years ago, I accidentally went around the world. This year I planned the trip as if it was just a normal way to escape winter in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. I’d always wanted to visit Scandinavia to experience a culture that valued quality of living; things like public transportation, free education, universal healthcare,…
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Iceland in 72 hours
For those of you who don’t know, Icelandair offers a special deal where you can fly between the US and Europe with a stopover in Reykjavik. What makes this stopover unusual is that you can get off the plane for as many as seven days in Iceland without paying any extra for your fare. I…
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Three reasons why you shouldn’t buy a Eurail pass
In theory, a Eurail pass seems like a great way to save money and hassle while traveling Europe by train. In reality, it almost always costs less to pay as you go, and you often have to make reservations even when traveling with a pass. The majority of Eurail passes available also require you to…
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Belgium by Accident
I’ve been asked several times how much advance travel planning I do for my trips. Typically, I buy two tickets: one outbound and one return. Never do I arrive and depart from the same city as that would require wasted time backtracking. For example, on my first round the world trip, I bought a ticket…
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Why there’s nothing wrong with Scandinavians being cold
Many criticize Scandinavian people for being cold. It’s true, they aren’t dramatic about expressing themselves, but maybe drama isn’t so great. If you think about Star Trek, Mr. Spock is an evolved being who doesn’t exhibit violence because he manages his emotions. I find Scandinavians to be the adults of this world. They are no…
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Tips for making the most of your cruise experience
I recently ended up taking a cruise by accident. I had planned to visit as much of Norway as possible but, after some research, I found it to be a very rugged landscape that would not easily be tackled by train alone. In order to get to many of the places I wanted to visit,…
